Garfield (disambiguation)
Garfield is a comic strip created by Jim Davis. Published since June 19, 1978, it chronicles the life of the title character, the cat Garfield (named after the grandfather of Davis); his owner, Jon Arbuckle; and Jon's dog, Odie. As of 2013, it was syndicated in roughly 2,580 newspapers and journals, and held the Guinness World Record for being the world's most widely syndicated comic strip.1 Though this is rarely mentioned in print, Garfield is set in Muncie, Indiana, the home of Jim Davis, according to the television special Happy Birthday, Garfield. Common themes in the strip include Garfield's laziness, obsessive eating, and disdain of Mondays and diets. The strip's focus is mostly on the interactions among Garfield, Jon, and Odie, but recurring minor characters appear as well. Originally created with the intentions to "come up with a good, marketable character",2 Garfield has spawned merchandise earning $750 million to $1 billion annually. In addition to the various merchandise and commercial tie-ins, the strip has spawned several animated television specials, two animated television series, two theatrical feature-length live-action/CGI animated films and three fully CGI animated direct-to-video movies. Part of the strip's broad appeal is due to its lack of social or political commentary; though this was Davis' original intention, he also admitted that his "grasp of politics isn't strong," remarking that, for many years, he thought "OPEC was a denture adhesive".34 Contents hide 1 History 2 Marketing 3 Media 3.1 Live-action/computer-animated films 3.2 Internet 3.3 Television 3.4 Video games 3.5 Stage 3.6 Comic book 4 Main characters 4.1 Garfield 4.2 Jon Arbuckle 4.3 Odie 4.4 Dr. Liz Wilson 5 Recurring subjects and themes 5.1 Short storylines 5.2 Paws, Inc. 6 2010 Veterans Day controversy 7 Bibliography 7.1 Primary sources 7.2 Secondary sources 8 References 9 External links Historyedit In the 1970s, Davis created a comic strip called Gnorm Gnat, which met with little success. One editor said, "his art was good, his gags were great," but that "nobody can identify with bugs." Davis decided to take a long, hard look at the comics and he saw that dogs were doing very well, but there were no cats at the time. Davis figured that since he had grown up on a farm with 25 cats that he could come up with a strip based on a cat. He then proceeded to create a new strip with a cat as its main character and thus created Garfield.5 Garfield originally consisted of four main characters. Garfield, the titular character, was based on the cats Davis was around growing up; he took his name and personality from Davis's grandfather, James A. Garfield Davis,6 who was, in Davis's words, "a large, cantankerous man". Jon Arbuckle came from a 1950s coffee commercial, and Odie was based on a car dealership commercial written by Davis, which featured Odie the Village Idiot. Early on in the strip, Odie's owner was a man named Lyman. He was written in to give Jon someone to talk with. Davis later realized that Garfield and Jon could "communicate nonverbally". The strip, originally centered on Jon, was first rejected by the King Features, Post-Hall and the Chicago Tribune-New York News agencies, all of which asked Davis to focus on the cat, who in their opinion, got the better lines. United Feature Syndicate accepted the retooled strip in 1978 and debuted it in 41 newspapers on June 197 of that year (however, after a test run, the Chicago Sun-Times dropped it, only to reinstate it after readers' complaints).18 Garfield's first Sunday page ran on June 25, 1978,9 being featured as a third-pager until March 22, 1981.10 A half-page debuted the following Sunday, March 29,11 with the strips for March 1412 and 21, 1982,13 having a unique nine-panel format, but UFS curtailed further use of it (it did, however, allow Davis to use the format for his U.S. Acres strip). The strip's subject matter in the early months varied from the pattern into which it later settled. Today, some might be deemed politically incorrect, such as strips involving Jon's pipe smoking141516 or his subscription to a bachelor magazine.17 Another point that limited the global appeal of these strips was the U.S./Canada-centric humor, with a few jokes being untranslatable into some languages.18 However, by 1980, the strip adopted the universal family fare for which it is now known. The appearance of the characters gradually changed over time.19 The left panel is taken from a 1980 strip; the right is from a 1990 strip. Notably, the strip underwent stylistic changes, from the 1978–83 strips being more realistic, to appearing more cartoonish from 1984 onward. This change has essentially affected Garfield's design, which underwent a "Darwinian evolution" in which he began walking on his hind legs, "slimmed down", and "stopped looking ... through squinty little eyes". His evolution, according to Davis, was to make it easier to "push Odie off the table" or "reach for a piece of pie". Jon also underwent physiological changes. He now looks older than in the 1990 strips - he is taller and he has larger features. Garfield quickly became a commercial success. In 1981, less than three years after its release, the strip appeared in 850 newspapers and accumulated over $15 million in merchandise. To manage the merchandise, Davis founded Paws, Inc.20 By 2002, Garfield became the world's most syndicated strip, appearing in 2,570 newspapers with 263 million readers worldwide;1 by 2004, Garfield appeared in nearly 2,600 newspapers and sold from $750 million to $1 billion worth of merchandise in 111 countries.2 In 1994, Davis's company, Paws, Inc., purchased all rights to the strips from 1978 to 1993 from United Feature. The strip is currently distributed by Universal Press Syndicate, while rights for the strip remain with Paws. While retaining creative control and being the only signer, Davis now only writes and usually does the rough sketches. Since the late 1990s most of the work has been done by long-time assistants Brett Koth and Gary Barker. Inking and coloring work is done by other artists, while Davis spends most of the time supervising production and merchandising the characters.2 Marketingedit See also: Garfield merchandise and Garfield statues Garfield was originally created by Davis with the intention to come up with a "good, marketable character".2 Now the world's most syndicated comic strip, Garfield has spawned a "profusion"2 of merchandise including clothing, toys, games, Caribbean cruises, credit cards, dolls,21 DVDs of the movies or the TV series,22 and related media.23 Mediaedit Live-action/computer-animated filmsedit Garfield: The Movie was released to cinemas on June 11, 2004. Its sequel, Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties was released to cinemas on 16 June 2006. Both films were poorly received by critics. Internetedit Garfield.com is the strip's official website, containing archives of past strips along with games and an online store. Jim Davis has also collaborated with Ball State University and Pearson Digital Learning to create Professor Garfield, a site with educational games focusing on math and reading skills, and with Children's Technology Group to create MindWalker, a web browser that allows parents to limit the websites their children can view to a pre-set list.242526 A variety of edited Garfield strips have been made available on the Internet, some hosted on their own unofficial, dedicated sites. Dating from 2005, a site called the "Garfield Randomizer" created a three-panel strip using panels from previous Garfield strips.27 Another approach, known as "Silent Garfield",28 involves removing Garfield's thought balloons from the strips.29 Some examples date from 2006.30 A webcomic called Arbuckle does the above but also redraws the originals in a different art style. The Arbuckle website creator writes: "'Garfield' changes from being a comic about a sassy, corpulent feline, and becomes a compelling picture of a lonely, pathetic, delusional man who talks to his pets. Consider that Jon, according to Garfield canon, cannot hear his cat's thoughts. This is the world as he sees it. This is his story".31 Another variation along the same lines, called "Realfield" or "Realistic Garfield", is to redraw Garfield as a real cat as well as removing his thought balloons.3233 Still another approach to editing the strips involves removing Garfield and other main characters from the originals completely, leaving Jon talking to himself. While strips in this vein can be found online as early as 2006,30 the 2008 site Garfield Minus Garfield by Dan Walsh received enough online attention to be covered by news media. Reception was largely positive: at its peak, the site received as many as 300,000 hits per day. Fans connected with Jon's "loneliness and desperation" and found his "crazy antics" humorous; Jim Davis himself called Walsh's strips an "inspired thing to do" and said that "some of strips work better the originals".3435 Ballantine Books, which publishes the Garfield books, released a volume of Garfield Minus Garfield strips on October 28, 2008. The volume retains Davis as author and features a foreword by Walsh.32 Televisionedit From 1982 to 1991, twelve primetime Garfield cartoon specials and one hour-long primetime documentary celebrating the character's 10th anniversary were aired; Lorenzo Music voiced Garfield in all of them. A television cartoon show, Garfield and Friends aired for seven seasons from 1988 to 1994; this adaption also starred Music as the voice of Garfield. The Garfield Show, a CGI series, started development in 2007 to coincide with the strip's 30th anniversary the following year.36 It premiered in France in December 2008 and made its U.S. debut on Cartoon Network on November 2, 2009. Video gamesedit Garfield: Big Fat Hairy Deal is a 1987 video game for the Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and the Amiga based on the comic strip. Towa Chiki made A Week of Garfield for the Family Computer, released only in Japan in 1989. Sega also made video games based on Garfield for the Genesis (Garfield: Caught in the Act) and Windows 3.1 computers, as well as other companies made games, such as A Tale of Two Kitties for the DS, published by Game Factory, Garfield's Nightmare for DS, Garfield's Funfest for DS, and Garfield Labyrinth for Game Boy. On PlayStation 2 were Garfield and Garfield 2 (known in the US as Garfield, a Tale of Two Kitties). Also, Garfield Lasagna World Tour was also made for PS2. And a recent addition for mobile devices is "Garfield's Diner". Konami also released a Garfield Handheld electronic game. In 2012, a series of Garfield videogames was launched by French publisher Anuman Interactive, including My Puzzles with Garfield!, Multiplication Tables with Garfield, Garfield Kart, and Garfield’s Match Up.37 Stageedit Joseph Papp, producer of A Chorus Line, discussed making a Garfield stage musical, but due to some complications, it never got off ground. A full-length stage musical, titled "Garfield Live", was planned to kick off its US tour in September 2010, but got moved to January 18, 2011, where it premiered in Muncie, IN. The book was written by Jim Davis, with music and lyrics by Michael Dansicker and Bill Meade, and it was booked by AWA Touring Services. However, no other cast or crew's name is available for dispersion to the public. The opening song, "Cattitude" can be heard on the national tour's website, along with two more, "On the Fence," and "Going Home!".38 When the North-American tour concludes in 2012, it will tour throughout Asia. Comic bookedit In agreement with Paws, Boom! Studios launched in May 2012 a monthly Garfield comic book, with the first issue featuring a story written by Mark Evanier (who has supervised Garfield and Friends and The Garfield Show) and illustrated by Davis's long-time assistant Gary Barker.39 Main charactersedit Main article: List of characters in the Garfield franchise Character Television Live-action/animated Films Animated Films Garfield TV Specials (1982–1991) Garfield and Friends (1988–1994) The Garfield Show (2008–Present) Garfield: The Movie (2004) Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006) Garfield: On Film (1980) Garfield Gets Real (2007) Garfield's Fun Fest (2008) Garfield's Pet Force (2009) Garfield Lorenzo Music Frank Welker Bill Murray Orson Welles Frank Welker Jon Arbuckle Thom Huge Wally Wingert Breckin Meyer Alan Alda Wally Wingert Odie Gregg Berger Tyler and Chloe Richard Pryor Gregg Berger Dr. Liz Wilson Julie K. Payne Jennifer Love Hewitt Julie K. Payne Nermal Desirée Goyette Jason Marsden David Eigenberg Jason Marsden Through the Garfield strips, there have been many additional characters, but the four main ones are described here. Garfieldedit First appearance: June 19, 1978 I'm not overweight, I'm undertall. Garfield At Large: His First Book (1980)40 Garfield is an orange, fuzzy, tabby cat born in the kitchen of an Italian restaurant (later revealed in the television special Garfield: His 9 Lives to be Mama Leoni's Italian Restaurant) and immediately ate all the pasta and lasagna in sight, thus developing his love and obsession for lasagna and pizza.4142 Gags in the strips commonly deal with Garfield's obesity (in one strip, Jon jokes, "I wouldn't say Garfield is fat, but the last time he got on a Ferris wheel, the two guys on top starved to death"),43 and his disdain of any form of exertion or work. He is known for saying "breathing is exercise". In addition to being portrayed as lazy and fat, Garfield is also pessimistic, sadistic, cynical, sarcastic, sardonic, negative and a bit obnoxious. He enjoys destroying things, mauling the mailman, tormenting Odie, kicking Odie off the table; he also makes snide comments, usually about Jon's inability to get a date (in one strip, when Jon bemoans the fact that no one will go out with him on New Year's, Garfield replies, "Don't feel bad Jon. They wouldn't go out with you even if it weren't New Year's").44 Though Garfield can be very cynical, he does have a soft side for his teddy bear, Pooky, food and sleep, but one Christmas he says "they say I have to get up early, be nice to people, skip breakfast… I wish it would never end." It has been wondered by many readers if Garfield can actually be understood by the non animal characters around him. Sometimes, it seems like Jon can hear him. However, it is mentioned in more than one strip that Jon cannot understand Garfield.45 June 19 is celebrated within the strip as Garfield's birthday. The appearance in 1979 claimed it to be his first birthday, although in the first appearance of the strip (June 19, 1978), he was portrayed as a fully-grown cat. Garfield learns about his past from his grandfather, who makes many jokes about Garfield.46 Jon Arbuckleedit First appearance: June 19, 1978 Jon: Here's my sixth-grade report card. My parents were so proud. Garfield, reading the report card: "Jon has not shoved any crayons up his nose this term." Garfield (1996)47 Jon (Jonathan Q. Arbuckle) is Garfield's owner, usually depicted as an awkward clumsy geek who has trouble finding a date. Jon also had a crush on Liz (Garfield's veterinarian) and is now dating her. Jon disapproves of Garfield's layback "don't care, not interested," attitude, and often encourages his pet to take an interest in the world around him, sometimes stating an interesting fact, or asking a philosophical question in an attempt to prompt Garfield into thought, Garfield tends to brush this off with a simple, yet logical remark, and despite the trouble Garfield causes, Jon has a heart of gold and is very tolerant of Garfield's shortcomings, a fact which Garfield often takes advantage of. In the December 23, 1980 strip, Jon states that he is thirty years old (nominally meaning he should presently be in his sixties, although he has not aged physically). His birthday is July 27.48 Jon loves (or occasionally hates) Garfield and all cats. Many gags focus on this; his inability to get a date is usually attributed to his lack of social skills, his poor taste in clothes (Garfield remarked in one strip after seeing his closet that "two hundred moths committed suicide";49 in another, the "geek police" ordered Jon to "throw out his tie"),50 and his eccentric interests which range from stamp collecting to measuring the growth of his toenails to watching movies with "polka ninjas". Other strips portray him as lacking intelligence (he is seen reading a pop-up book in one strip).51 Jon was born on a farm that apparently contained few amenities; in one strip, his father, upon seeing indoor plumbing, remarks, "Woo-ha! Ain't science something?"52 Jon occasionally visits his parents, brother and grandmother at their farm. It was implied that Jon is inspired by a drawing of Davis himself when he was first drawing the strip. Jon was initially portrayed as a cartoonist in earlier strips, as Jim Davis stated this would've been a way to express his own frustrations as a cartoonist himself, but this eventually faded in the later strips. Odieedit First appearance: August 8, 197853 Jon: I think I'm having some kind of identity crisis. Garfield, walking past Odie who is lying in a kitchen drawer: He thinks he's having an identity crisis....Odie thinks he's a potato peeler. Garfield (1991)54 Odie is a yellow, long-eared beagle with a large, slobbering tongue, who walks on all four legs, though occasionally he will walk on two like Garfield. He was originally owned by Jon’s friend Lyman, though Jon adopted him after Lyman was written out of the strip. The book Garfield: His 9 Lives (1984) retcons Odie's origin: there is no mention of Lyman, and Odie was a puppy when he was acquired by Jon as company for Garfield (when Garfield was a kitten). Odie is usually portrayed as naïve, happy, affectionate and blissfully unaware of Garfield's cynical, sadistic nature, despite the physical abuse Garfield exhibits toward him, including regularly kicking him off the kitchen table or tricking him into going over the edge himself. On some occasions, however, he is depicted more intelligently, as one strip, in which he holds a heavy rock to prevent Garfield from doing this, and actually hurts Garfield's foot. In one strip when Garfield and Jon are out of the house, Odie is seen reading War and Peace and watching a television program, An Evening With Mozart.55 Odie has only talked once. In another strip, published on January 28, 2010, he is seen solving Jon's sudoku puzzle. Strips that play off of the size of Odie's tongue and his inscrutability include one in which Garfield remarks, "Is there any wonder why there's no room in his head for a brain?", and another in which Garfield pulls Odie's tail, which results in his tongue being pulled out.& issue needed Dr. Liz Wilsonedit First appearance: June 26, 1979 Jon: Tell me, Liz, haven't we met somewhere before? A rice paddy in Hong Kong? Liz: Look, jerk. I'll be the vet for your cat, but I won't play fall guy for your stupid lines. Understood? Jon, shocked: Uh-huh. So long, doctor. Liz: Have a nice day. Garfield (1979)56 Dr. Liz Wilson is Garfield's veterinarian and a long-time crush of Jon Arbuckle. She has a somewhat deadpan, sardonic persona and almost always reacts negatively to Jon's outlandish and goofball behavior but can even find it endearing on occasion. Jon often attempted to ask her out on a date, but rarely succeeded; however, in an extended story arc from June 19 to July 29, 2006 (the main event on July 28), Liz and Jon kiss. Now, they are a couple. Liz now frequently visits Garfield and Jon's home often discouraging Garfield from eating junk food at the same time Garfield is about to do so, but he does not listen.57 In a few of the July 2007 strips, Garfield became jealous of Liz58 until they became friends on July 24.59 In a 2008 strip that appeared at June 8 and also in Garfield 2: A Tail of Two Kitties, it is implied that Jon and Liz will eventually marry. However, in many books and interviews, Jim Davis has revealed that he has no definite plans for a Jon/Liz marriage. Recurring subjects and themesedit Many of the gags focus on Garfield's obsessive eating and obesity; his fear of spiders (many of these can be found in the 7th strip comic collection type book ); his hate of Mondays, diets, and any form of exertion; his constant shedding (which constantly annoys Jon); and his abuse of Odie and Jon as well as his obsession with mailing Nermal to Abu Dhabi. Though he will eat nearly anything (with the exception of raisins and spinach), Garfield is particularly fond of lasagna; he also enjoys eating Jon's houseplants and other pets (mainly birds and fish). He also has odd relationships with household pests; Garfield generally spares mice, and even cooperates with them to cause mischief (much to Jon's chagrin), but will readily swat or pound spiders flat. Other gags focused on Jon's poor social skills and inability to get a date; before he started dating Liz, he often tried to get dates, usually without success (in one strip, after failing to get a date with "Nancy", he tried getting a date with her mother and grandmother; he ended up getting "shot down by three generations".)60 When he does get a date, it usually goes awry; Jon's dates have slashed his tires, been tranquilized, and called the police when he stuck carrots in his ears. The storylines featuring Jon's dates rarely appear now. Before, he had dates with many odd characters, whereas now, he exclusively dates Liz. Garfield's world has specific locations that appear normally on the comic strips, like the Vet’s office, a place he loathes. Irma’s Diner is another occasional setting. Irma is a chirpy but slow-witted and unattractive waitress/manager, and one of Jon’s few friends. The terrible food is the center of most of the jokes, along with the poor management. Jon periodically visits his parents and brother on the farm. This results in week-long comical displays of stupidity by Jon and his family, and their interactions. There is a comic strip where Jon's brother Doc Boy is watching two socks in the dryer spinning and Doc Boy calls it entertainment. On the farm, Jon's mother will cook huge dinners; Garfield hugs her for this. Jon has a grandmother who, in a strip, kicked Odie; Garfield subsequently hugged her. Jon's parents once visited Jon, Garfield, and Odie in the city. Jon's father drove into town on his tractor (which he double-parked) and brought a rooster to wake him up. As Garfield has a love for food, they will often eat out at restaurants. Most trips end up embarrassing because Garfield will pig out, or Jon will do something stupid, including wearing an ugly shirt, which happened one night when he took Liz on a date. When Jon does take Liz on a date, Garfield occasionally tags along---once, he ate the bread and other food at an Italian restaurant they went to.61 Frequently, the characters break the fourth wall, mostly to explain something to the readers, talk about a subject that often sets up the strip's punchline (like Jon claiming that pets are good for exercise right before he finds Garfield in the kitchen and chases him out),62 or give a mere glare when a character is belittled or not impressed. Sometimes, this theme revolves around the conventions of the strip; for example, in one strip, Garfield catches a cold and complains about it, noting, "I can hardy eben understad by own thoughts."63 Short storylinesedit Garfield often engages in one- to two-week-long (6 to 12 days, excluding Sundays) interactions with a minor character, event or thing, such as Nermal, Arlene, the mailman, alarm clocks, a talking scale, the TV, Pooky, spiders, mice, balls of yarn, dieting, shedding, pie-throwing, fishing, vacations, Irma's diner, etc. However, since 2010 these continuities have become relatively scarce,needed with a theme or character now usually featured on a specific day of the week (especially with the Jon-Liz dates, which have mostly taken place on Fridays).needed One particular semi-recurring storyline features Jon and Liz on a date in a restaurant. They sometimes are waited on by the Italian Armando, who is refined and sophisticated and shows a great loathing towards Jon, presumably for his immature and uncouth behavior at the prestigious eatery. On other occasions, the couple receives a different waiter, such as a large ogre-like man who intimidates Jon when he is about to report a complaint about the food. Other unique themes are things like "Garfield's Believe it or Don't",64 "Garfield's Law",65 "Garfield's History of Dogs",66 and "Garfield's History of Cats",67 which show science, history and the world from Garfield's point of view. Another particular theme is "National Fat Week", where Garfield spends the week making fun of skinny people. Also, there was a storyline involving Garfield catching Odie eating his food and "kicking Odie into next week".68 Soon, Garfield realizes that "Lunch isn’t the same without Odie. He always slips up behind me, barks loudly and makes me fall into my food," (Garfield subsequently falls into his food by himself).69 A few days after the storyline began, Garfield is lying in his bed with a "nagging feeling I'm forgetting something," with Odie landing on Garfield in the next panel.70 Ever sinceneeded Jon and Liz began to go out more frequently, Jon has started hiring pet sitters to look after Garfield and Odie, though they don't always work out. Two particular examples are Lillian, an eccentric (and very nearsighted) old lady with odd quirks, and Greta, a muscle bound woman who was hired to look after the pets during New Years. Most of December is spent preparing for Christmas, with a predictable focus on presents. Other Christmas themed strips include Jon's attempts at decorating the tree and house, or the attempt to buy the tree. Another example is "Splut Week", when Garfield tries to avoid pies that are thrown at him. For most of Garfield's history, being hit with a pie has inevitably resulted in the onomatopoeia 'splut', hence the name. Every week before June 19, the strip focuses on Garfield's birthday, which he dreads because of his fear of getting older. This started happening after his sixth birthday. However, before his 29th birthday, Liz put Garfield on a diet. On June 19, 2007, Garfield was given the greatest birthday present: "I'M OFF MY DIET!" Occasionally the strip celebrates Halloween as well with scary-themed jokes, such as mask gags. There are also seasonal jokes, with snow-related gags common in January or February and beach or heat themed jokes in the summer. Right panel of October 27, 1989 strip. One storyline, which ran the week before Halloween in 1989 (Oct 23 to Oct 28), is unique among Garfield strips in that it is not meant to be humorous. It depicts Garfield awakening in a future in which the house is abandoned and he no longer exists. In tone and imagery the storyline for this series of strips is very similar to the animation segment for Valse Triste from Allegro Non Troppo, which depicts a ghostly cat roaming around the ruins of the home it once inhabited. In Garfield's Twentieth Anniversary Collection, in which the strips are reprinted, Jim Davis discusses the genesis for this series: During a writing session for Halloween, I got the idea for this decidedly different series of strips. I wanted to scare people. And what do people fear most? Why, being alone. We carried out the concept to its logical conclusion and got a lot of responses from readers. Reaction ranged from 'Right on!' to 'This isn't a trend, is it?' One of the recurring storylines involves Garfield getting lost or running away. The longest one of these lasted for over a month (in 1986 August 25 to September 28); it began with Jon telling Garfield to go get the newspaper. Garfield walks outside to get it, but speculates about what will happen if he wanders off – and decides to find out. Jon notices Garfield has been gone too long, so he sends Odie out to find him. He quickly realizes his mistake (Odie, being not too bright, also gets lost). Jon starts to get lonely, so he offers a reward for the return of Garfield and Odie. He is not descriptive, so animals including an elephant, monkeys, a seal, a snake, a kangaroo & joey, and turtles are brought to Jon’s house for the reward. After a series of events, including Odie being adopted by a small girl, both pets meeting up at a circus that they briefly joined, and both going to a pet shop, Garfield and Odie make it back home. Another story involved Jon going away on a business trip around Christmas time, leaving Garfield a week's worth of food, which he devoured instantly. Garfield then leaves the house and gets locked out. He then reunites with his mother, and eventually makes it back home in the snow on Christmas Eve (1984 December 3 to 23). Part of this storyline was taken from the 1983 Emmy-winning special Garfield on the Town. Paws, Inc.edit Paws, Inc.71 was founded in 1981 by Jim Davis to support the Garfield comic strip and its licensing. It is located in Muncie, Indiana and has a staff of nearly 50 artists and licensing administrators. In 1994, the company purchased all rights to the Garfield comic strips from 1978 to 1993 from United Feature Syndicate. However, the original black and white daily strips and original color Sunday strips remain copyrighted to United Feature Syndicate. The full color daily strips and recolored Sunday strips are copyrighted to Paws as they are considered a different product. Though rights to the strip remain with Paws, Inc., it is currently distributed by Universal Press Syndicate 2010 Veterans Day controversyedit The controversial comic strip. Davis attracted criticism for a Garfield strip in which the last panel appeared to be a negative reference to Veterans Day that appeared in newspapers on November 11, 2010. In the strip, a spider who is about to be squashed by Garfield boasts that if he is squished, he will get a holiday in his remembrance. The next panel shows a classroom of spiders in which a teacher asks the students why spiders celebrate "National Stupid Day," implying that the spider was squished.72 Davis quickly apologized for the poorly timed comic strip, claiming that it had been written a year in advance and that both his brother and son were veterans.73 The three panel strip was one in a series that featured Garfield interacting with spiders.747576 Garfield (character) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the cartoon character. For the comic strip, see Garfield. For other uses, see Garfield (disambiguation). This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (July 2008) Garfield Arbuckle Garfield the Cat.svg First appearance Garfield comic strip (June 19, 1978) Created by Jim Davis Voiced by Scott Beach (early commercials) Lorenzo Music (1982-1994) Frank Welker (2007-present) Bill Murray (live-action/CGI films) Information Species Exotic Shorthairneeded Gender Male Family Sonja (mother) Raoul (half-brother) Spouse(s) Arlene (girlfriend) Garfield is a fictional character and the title protagonist from the comic strip Garfield created by Jim Davis. The comic strip centers on Garfield and portrays him to be a lazy, fat and cynical orange cat. He loves lasagna and coffee, and hates Mondays and raisins. Garfield relates to many because of his passion for food, his ability to just eat a lot, and his lack of motivation to work out. Sleep is his favorite hobby and to him, "Diet is 'die' with a 't'". Contents hide 1 Character 1.1 Fictional biography 1.2 Personality 2 Name 3 Voice-over timeline 4 Other media 5 References 6 External links Characteredit Fictional biographyedit Garfield, as portrayed on the back cover of Garfield At Large. Garfield was born June 19, 1978, in the kitchen of Mamma Leoni's Italian Restaurant weighing 5 lbs and 6 ounces at birth and loved Lasagna the day he was born. Ever since then, it has always been his favorite food.1 However, the restaurant owner of Mamma Leoni's Italian restaurant had to choose between keeping Garfield or closing down his restaurant due to a lack of pasta; so Garfield was sold to a pet shop. Later in his life, Garfield accidentally runs across his mother again one Christmas Eve, and meets his grandfather (from his mother's side) for the first time.2 On August 19, 1978, when Jon came to the store, he had to choose between Garfield, an iguana, and a pet rock. In his cartoon appearances, Garfield usually causes mischief in every episode. In June 1983, comic strips introduced Amoeba Man, one of Garfield's alter-egos, yet he was only shown in six strips (June 20–25). In February 2010, another alter ego was introduced called Super Garfield, and his sidekick Odieboy (Odie). Amoeba Man and Super Garfield are only two of his few imaginary alter egos though, his most common one being the Caped Avenger. And for a very short period of time, Garfield would fall prey to various dogs e.g. Bungee Dog, Warm up dog etc. which would squish him in any direction. It is also given that Garfield uses the "sandbox" on occasion, such as in one 1978 strip; he says he hates commercials because they're "too long to sit through and too short for a trip to the sandbox."3 It was revealed on October 27, 1979, that he doesn’t like raisins.4 His birthday is June 19, 1978, the day the first Garfield strip was published.567 Interestingly, on Garfield's 25th anniversary in 2003, several strips were featured with him interacting with the version of him from 1978. Garfield frequently gets into many adventures, such as getting stuck in roll-up shades, sparring with mice, and getting locked up in animal shelters. In 2005, Garfield and Jon appeared in several comic strips of Blondie in honor of their 75th anniversary.8 Garfield got excited because he didn't have to think.9 There was an earlier Blondie crossover on the Garfield strip published April 1, 1997.10 Garfield was one of the cartoon characters featured in Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, although he was the only character to be used without the permission of his creator.needed Personalityedit Garfield is an overweight anthropomorphic orange tabby cat noted for his sheer laziness, sarcasm, and intense passion for food, particularly lasagna. Often throughout the course of the strip Garfield's weight has been poked fun at as an object of ridicule, particularly by the electronic scale which he frequently uses to weigh himself. Garfield usually does not handle insults or commands from the scale (or anybody else) very well, and normally will respond to such remarks with violence or a saucy comeback of some sort, in spite of the fact that the character solely communicates through thought bubbles. Garfield lives with his slightly eccentric, socially awkward owner Jon Arbuckle, who currently works at Lexus of Tulsa as a self proclaimed service drive manager, and Jon's dimwitted pet dog Odie, and derives pleasure from satirically mocking the stupid actions performed by the two of them. Garfield is not particularly fond of Odie (as obviously expected from the common hatred shared by cats and dogs) and enjoys causing him physical harm or insulting him, seldom showing empathy for the beagle. Albeit Odie shows Garfield no belligerence of any kind and would never deliberately cause him harm, Garfield dislikes him nonetheless and is apt to make rude comments based on the utter lack of intelligence displayed by Odie. However, Odie isn't the only target of Garfield's taunts; he frequently pokes fun at Jon as well for his nerdy behaviors and unpopularity with women, along with his tacky, ridiculous fashion sense. However, Garfield cares for Odie and Jon nonetheless, but he especially shows affection for his beloved teddy bear Pooky, which is frequently seen in his arms or close to its owner. Nameedit Jim Davis named Garfield after his grandfather, James Garfield Davis, who was named after President James A. Garfield.11 According to an interview with Jim Davis in the second Garfield compilation book, Garfield Gains Weight, the name "Garfield" makes him think of "...a fat cat...or a St. Bernard...or a neat line of thermal underwear." Voice-over timelineedit ##Scott Beach - A brief television commercial. ##Lorenzo Music - 1982-2000; In the TV specials and the Garfield and Friends TV series. ##Bill Murray - 2004-2006; In the live-action/animated movies. ##Frank Welker - 2007-present; In The Garfield Show TV series and Garfield Gets Real, Garfield's Fun Fest, Garfield's Pet Force. Other mediaedit The computer animated version of Garfield, as seen in Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties.##In the first two live-action/animated movies and Garfield Gets Real, Garfield's Fun Fest and Garfield's Pet Force, Garfield was created using computer animation, though the Garfield Gets Real version is closer to his original form than his theatrical movie form, when he looked and moved more like a real cat, but still exaggerated enough to suit the character. ##In the animated series and prime-time specials, he was voiced by Lorenzo Music. In the live-action/animated movies, he is voiced by Bill Murray. An interesting side note is that the two actors also shared the role of Dr. Peter Venkman in the animated television series The Real Ghostbusters. At the start of the second season of the show, Music was replaced by Dave Coulier, due to Murray's complaint that Peter Venkman sounded too much like Garfield. In Garfield Gets Real and the CGI series The Garfield Show, he is voiced by Frank Welker who played Bo, Booker, and Sheldon in Garfield and Friends and U.S. Acres episodes, and also worked with Lorenzo Music as Dr. Ray Stanz in The Real Ghostbusters. In Garfield and Friends, when Lorenzo was ill, Frank would occasionally voice Garfield. ##Garfield is a plush animal licenced to the Dakin Company for manufacture circa 1988. ##Garfield has been a mascot of Kennywood, a traditional amusement park in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh since the 1990s. Furthermore, a popular ride at Kennywood; "Garfield's Nightmare" was created with the exclusive input of Garfield creator, Jim Davis. ##Garfield appears as a guest in a 1996 video called "Kids for Character". ##Garfield has made many cameo appearances in episodes of MAD. The first being on "Groan Wars" (a parody of Star Wars: The Clone Wars), in which he parodied the character of Ahsoka Tano. He appeared again in a fake commercial that can make any show a musical. He played a bigger part in the sketch, "Garfield of Dreams". He appeared in his own fake commercial, "The Garfield No-Monday Calendar". Referencesedit 1.Jump up ^ Garfield: His 9 Lives 2.Jump up ^ Garfield on the Town 3.Jump up ^ "8-4-1978 strip". Garfield.com. Retrieved 2011-05-31. 4.Jump up ^ "10-27-79 strip". Garfield.com. Retrieved 2011-05-31. 5.Jump up ^ "The Garfield Vault Strip". Garfield.com. 2006-06-19. Retrieved 2011-05-31. 6.Jump up ^ "The Garfield Vault Strip". Garfield.com. 2005-06-19. Retrieved 2006-08-07. 7.Jump up ^ "The Garfield Vault Strip". Garfield.com. 1978-06-19. Retrieved 2006-08-07. 8.Jump up ^ "Blondie". Newsfromme.com. Retrieved 2010-07-02. 9.Jump up ^ "8-20-05 strip". Garfield.com. Retrieved 2010-07-02. 10.Jump up ^ "The Garfield Vault Strip". Garfield.com. 1997-04-01. Retrieved 2007-12-02. 11.Jump up ^ "Jim Davis: The Man Behind the Cat". Pressroom.garfield.com. 1978-06-19. Retrieved 2010-07-02. External linksedit Wikiquote has quotations related to: Garfield ##Garfield - The Official Site of Garfield ##Garfield at the Internet Movie Database hide v · t · e Garfield by Jim Davis Characters Garfield · Jon Arbuckle · Odie Television Here Comes Garfield · Garfield on the Town · Garfield in the Rough · Garfield's Halloween Adventure · Garfield in Paradise · Garfield Goes Hollywood · A Garfield Christmas · Happy Birthday, Garfield · Garfield: His 9 Lives · Garfield and Friends (Episodes) · Garfield's Babes and Bullets · Garfield's Thanksgiving · Garfield's Feline Fantasies · Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue (cameo appearance) · Garfield Gets a Life · The Garfield Show (Episodes) Video games Garfield · Garfield: Big Fat Hairy Deal · Garfield: Winter's Tail · A Week of Garfield · Garfield Labyrinth · Garfield: Caught in the Act · Garfield's Mad About Cats · Garfield: The Search for Pooky · Garfield and His Nine Lives · Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties · Garfield's Nightmare · Garfield Gets Real · Garfield's Fun Fest · The Garfield Show: Threat of the Space Lasagna Films and DVDs Garfield as Himself · Garfield's Holiday Celebrations · Garfield's Travel Adventures · Garfield's Fantasies · Garfield Cat Tales · Garfield: The Movie · Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties · Garfield Gets Real · Garfield's Fun Fest · Garfield's Pet Force · Garfield and Friends: Behind the Scenes Books Garfield At Large: His First Book · Pet Force Other Lorenzo Music · U.S. Acres · Gnorm Gnat · Comic strip switcheroo · Klopman diamond · Garfield Minus Garfield · Am I Cool or What? · Paws, Inc. · Film Roman · Muncie, Indiana Categories: Garfield characters Fictional cats Fictional anthropomorphic characters Comics characters introduced in 1978 Fictional characters from Indiana Garfield (disambiguation) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Garfield is a comic strip created by Jim Davis, and may also refer to: Contents hide 1 Comic Character 2 Names 3 Places 4 Other uses Comic Characteredit ##Garfield (character), the comic strip's main character ##Garfield: The Movie, live-action/CGI film of Garfield the cat made in 2004 ##Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, movie sequel made in 2006 ##Garfield (film series) Namesedit See Garfield (name) Placesedit In Australia: ##Garfield, Victoria ##Garfield railway station, Victoria In Canada: ##Garfield Range In the United States: ##Garfield, Arkansas ##Garfield, California ##Garfield, California, former name of Freshwater, Humboldt County, California ##Garfield, Georgia ##Garfield, Indiana ##Garfield, Kansas ##Garfield, Bay County, Michigan, a settlement in Garfield Township ##Garfield, Grand Traverse County, Michigan, a settlement in Garfield Township ##Garfield, Missaukee County, Michigan, a former post office in Richland Township ##Garfield, Saginaw County, Michigan, a settlement in Swan Creek Township ##Garfield, Minnesota ##Garfield, New Jersey ##Garfield, New Mexico ##Garfield (Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania ##Garfield, Virginia, now Springfield, Virginia ##Garfield, West Virginia ##Garfield, Wisconsin (disambiguation), multiple locations ##Garfield Avenue (HBLR station), a light rail station in Jersey City, New Jersey ##Garfield Avenue (Los Angeles County) ##Garfield County (disambiguation) ##Garfield Heights, Ohio ##Garfield High School (disambiguation) ##Garfield Plantation, Maine ##Garfield Township (disambiguation) ##Mount Garfield (New Hampshire) ##Garfield Farm and Inn Museum, a Registered Historic Place in Illinois ## Two rapid transit stations on Garfield Avenue in Chicago: ##Garfield (CTA Green Line station) ##Garfield (CTA Red Line station) Other usesedit ##Garfield (album), debut album by American singer-songwriter Adam Green ##Beast Boy, also known as Garfield Logan, a fictional character in the DC Comics universe Disambiguation icon This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Garfield. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Categories: Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Garfield merchandise From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Garfield (film series)) Jump to: navigation, search hideThis article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. ##This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. (January 2013) ##This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2013) ##This article contains embedded lists that may be poorly defined, unverified or indiscriminate. (January 2013) Jim Davis's comic strip Garfield has generated a large amount of merchandise. This article compiles just some of these items. Contents hide 1 Books 1.1 Extras 1.2 Compilations 1.3 Garfield Classics 1.4 Garfield Fat Cat Three Pack 1.5 Others 2 DVD releases 3 Television 4 Video games 5 Films 6 Figurines and toys 7 Miscellaneous 8 Promotions 9 Commercials 10 References Booksedit Extrasedit In the books, there a numerous 'extras' at the front and/or back. For example, in the 10th Birthday book, the beginning has an extract of a newspaper, stating "JIM DAVIS A FRAUD", with Pooky revealing Garfield has in fact been writing the strips. Garfield states "I hired some hackneyed down-and-out to take the credit." denying several criticisms, which accused Davis was actually using ghostwriters, and not working on the strip at all. There was a bonus strip, which features a single panel at the end page of Garfield At Large showing Garfield walking in the sunset. There was also a bonus strip to fill in the book Garfield Gains Weight, which features a single panel with Garfield holding his face down in front of the TV. Compilationsedit These books, generally released twice a year by Ballantine Books, contain reprints of the comic as it appears in newspapers daily. These books were originally printed in black and white, but volumes 37 and later have been in full color. Each book collects approximately six months of comics, including the Sunday comics (in black and white in all except the recent editions). The titles of these books were styled as double entendres alluding to Garfield’s weight (Note: an extra at the end of a Garfield compilation advertised “rejected book titles”). These books introduced the “Garfield format” in publishing, whereby the rectangular books are horizontally oriented to match comic strip dimensions; Davis has recalled having to invent the format in order to better fit the books on store shelves. Volumes 37 and later introduced a new, larger square book in full color, showing the Sunday strips to be formatted in a size as they usually are, instead of shrunken-down to meet the book size. However, this means that the first panel after the logo box (called the drop panel because newspapers can drop it without ruining the point of the strip) is no longer printed in the compilation books. Each of the original 36 books will be re-released in the new larger format, dubbed “Garfield Classics”. So far, the first 26 books have been reprinted in this format. Title Comics Years Release Date Garfield At Large: His First Book June 19, 1978 – January 22, 1979 September 16, 1980 Garfield Gains Weight: His Second Book January 23, 1979 – August 26, 1979 March 25, 1981 Garfield Bigger Than Life: His Third Book August 27, 1979 – March 30, 1980 September 8, 1981 Garfield Weighs In: His Fourth Book March 31, 1980 – November 2, 1980 March 15, 1982 Garfield Takes the Cake: His Fifth Book November 3, 1980 – June 7, 1981 June 16, 1982 Garfield Eats His Heart Out: His Sixth Book June 8, 1981 – January 10, 1982 February 12, 1983 Garfield Sits Around the House: His Seventh Book January 11, 1982 – August 15, 1982 March 10, 1983 Garfield Tips the Scales: His Eighth Book August 16, 1982 – March 20, 1983 February 12, 1984 Garfield Loses His Feet: His Ninth Book March 21, 1983 – October 23, 1983 September 12, 1984 Garfield Makes It Big: His 10th Book October 24, 1983 – May 27, 1984 February 12, 1985 Garfield Rolls On: His 11th Book May 28, 1984 – December 30, 1984 September 12, 1985 Garfield Out to Lunch: His 12th Book December 31, 1984 – August 4, 1985 February 12, 1986 Garfield Food for Thought: His 13th Book August 5, 1985 – March 11, 1986 February 12, 1987 Garfield Swallows His Pride: His 14th Book March 12, 1986 – October 12, 1986 September 12, 1987 Garfield Worldwide: His 15th Book October 13, 1986 – May 17, 1987 February 12, 1988 Garfield Rounds Out: His 16th Book May 18, 1987 – December 19, 1987 September 12, 1988 Garfield Chews the Fat: His 17th Book December 20, 1987 – July 24, 1988 February 18, 1989 Garfield Goes to Waist: His 18th Book July 25, 1988 – February 25, 1989 February 24, 1990 Garfield Hangs Out: His 19th Book February 26, 1989 – September 30, 1989 October 3, 1990 Garfield Takes Up Space: His 20th Book October 1, 1989 – May 5, 1990 February 13, 1991 Garfield Says a Mouthful: His 21st Book May 6, 1990 – December 4, 1990 September 24, 1991 Garfield By the Pound: His 22nd Book December 5, 1990 – July 7, 1991 February 25, 1992 Garfield Keeps His Chins Up: His 23rd Book July 8, 1991 – February 4, 1992 September 8, 1992 Garfield Takes His Licks: His 24th Book February 5, 1992 – September 5, 1992 February 10, 1993 Garfield Hits the Big Time: His 25th Book September 6, 1992 – April 10, 1993 August 24, 1993 Garfield Pulls His Weight: His 26th Book April 11, 1993 – November 9, 1993 September 20, 1994 Garfield Dishes It Out: His 27th Book November 10, 1993 – June 11, 1994 February 14, 1995 Garfield Life in the Fat Lane: His 28th Book June 12, 1994 – January 10, 1995 September 26, 1995 Garfield Tons of Fun: His 29th Book January 11, 1995 – August 12, 1995 February 13, 1996 Garfield Bigger and Better: His 30th Book August 13, 1995 – March 11, 1996 September 24, 1996 Garfield Hams It Up: His 31st Book March 12, 1996 – October 12, 1996 March 11, 1997 Garfield Thinks Big: His 32nd Book October 13, 1996 – May 13, 1997 October 7, 1997 Garfield Throws His Weight Around: His 33rd Book May 14, 1997 – December 13, 1997 October 6, 1998 Garfield Life to the Fullest: His 34th Book December 14, 1997 – July 14, 1998 February 22, 1999 Garfield Feeds the Kitty: His 35th Book July 15, 1998 – February 13, 1999 August 31, 1999 Garfield Hogs the Spotlight: His 36th Book February 14, 1999 – September 11, 1999 February 29, 2000 Garfield Beefs Up: His 37th Book September 12, 1999 – April 8, 2000 October 3, 2000 Garfield Gets Cookin’: His 38th Book April 9, 2000 – November 4, 2000 October 2, 2001 Garfield Eats Crow: His 39th Book November 5, 2000 – June 2, 2001 January 1, 2003 Garfield Survival of the Fattest: His 40th Book June 3, 2001 – December 29, 2001 February 3, 2004 Garfield Older and Wider: His 41st Book December 30, 2001 – July 27, 2002 January 25, 2005 Garfield Pigs Out: His 42nd Book July 28, 2002 – February 22, 2003 February 7, 2006 Garfield Blots Out The Sun: His 43rd Book February 23, 2003 – September 20, 2003 January 30, 2007 Garfield Goes Bananas: His 44th Book September 21, 2003 – April 17, 2004 August 28, 2007 Garfield Large & In Charge: His 45th Book April 18, 2004 – November 13, 2004 January 29, 2008 Garfield Spills the Beans: His 46th Book November 14, 2004 – June 11, 2005 September 30, 2008 Garfield Gets His Just Desserts: His 47th Book June 12, 2005 – January 7, 2006 January 27, 2009 Garfield Will Eat For Food: His 48th Book January 8, 2006 – August 5, 2006 August 25, 2009 Garfield Weighs His Options: His 49th Book August 6, 2006 – March 3, 2007 January 26, 2010 Garfield Potbelly of Gold: His 50th Book March 4, 2007 – September 29, 2007 August 31, 2010 Garfield Shovels It In: His 51st Book September 30, 2007 - April 26, 2008 January 25, 2011 Garfield Lard of the Jungle: His 52nd Book April 27, 2008 - November 22, 2008 August 30, 2011 Garfield Brings Home The Bacon: His 53rd Book November 23, 2008 - June 20, 2009 January 31, 2012 Garfield Gets in a Pickle: His 54th Book June 21, 2009 - January 16, 2010 September 11, 2012 Garfield Sings for His Supper: His 55th Book January 17, 2010 - August 14, 2010 March 12, 2013 Garfield Caution: Wide Load: His 56th Book August 15, 2010 to March 12, 2011 September 10, 2013 Garfield Souped Up: His 57th Book March 13, 2011 to October 8, 2011 January 28, 2014 Garfield Goes To His Happy Place: His 58th Book October 9, 2011 to May 5, 2012 August 26, 2014 Garfield the Big Cheese: His 59th Book May 6, 2012 to December 1, 2012 January 27, 2015 Garfield Cleans His Plate: His 60th Book December 2, 2012 to June 29, 2013 August 25, 2015 Garfield ??: His 61st Book June 30, 2013 to January 25, 2014 January ?, 2016 Garfield ??: His 62nd Book January 26, 2014 to August 23, 2014 August ?, 2016 Garfield Classicsedit The Garfield Classics imprint has been in print since 2001, and reprints Garfield's first 36 books in a "remastered" format, with increased page size, bolder lines, and each strip in full-color format. So far, the first 28 have been printed in this format. Title Comics Years Release date Garfield At Large: His First Book June 19, 1978 – January 22, 1979 May 29, 2001 Garfield Gains Weight: His Second Book January 23, 1979 – September 22, 1979 November 27, 2001 Garfield Bigger Than Life: His Third Book September 23, 1979 – March 30, 1980 February 26, 2002 Garfield Weighs In: His Fourth Book March 31, 1980 – November 2, 1980 June 25, 2002 Garfield Takes the Cake: His Fifth Book November 3, 1980 – June 7, 1981 June 3, 2003 Garfield Eats His Heart Out: His Sixth Book June 8, 1981 – January 10, 1982 December 30, 2003 Garfield Sits Around the House: His Seventh Book January 11, 1982 – August 15, 1982 December 30, 2003 Garfield Tips the Scales: His Eighth Book August 16, 1982 – March 20, 1983 June 29, 2004 Garfield Loses His Feet: His Ninth Book March 21, 1983 – October 23, 1983 August 31, 2004 Garfield Makes It Big: His 10th Book October 24, 1983 – May 27, 1984 June 28, 2005 Garfield Rolls On: His 11th Book May 28, 1984 – December 30, 1984 July 26, 2005 Garfield Out to Lunch: His 12th Book December 31, 1984 – August 4, 1985 April 25, 2006 Garfield Food for Thought: His 13th Book August 5, 1985 – March 9, 1986 November 28, 2006 Garfield Swallows His Pride: His 14th Book March 10, 1986 – October 12, 1986 April 17, 2007 Garfield World Wide: His 15th Book October 13, 1986 – May 17, 1987 June 26, 2007 Garfield Rounds Out: His 16th Book May 18, 1987 – December 19, 1987 June 24, 2008 Garfield Chews the Fat: His 17th Book December 20, 1987 – July 24, 1988 August 26, 2008 Garfield Goes to Waist: His 18th Book July 25, 1988 – February 25, 1989 April 28, 2009 Garfield Hangs Out: His 19th Book February 26, 1989 – September 30, 1989 June 23, 2009 Garfield Takes Up Space: His 20th Book October 1, 1989 – May 5, 1990 April 27, 2010 Garfield Says a Mouthful: His 21st Book May 6, 1990 – December 4, 1990 June 22, 2010 Garfield By the Pound: His 22nd Book December 5, 1990 – July 6, 1991 April 26, 2011 Garfield Keeps His Chins Up: His 23rd Book July 7, 1991 – February 4, 1992 June 28, 2011 Garfield Takes His Licks: His 24th Book February 5, 1992 – September 5, 1992 June 26, 2012 Garfield Hits the Big Time: His 25th Book September 6, 1992 – April 10, 1993 May 21, 2013 Garfield Pulls His Weight: His 26th Book April 11, 1993 – November 9, 1993 July 16, 2013 Garfield Dishes It Out: His 27th Book November 10, 1993 – June 11, 1994 April 29, 2014 Garfield Life in the Fat Lane: His 28th Book June 12, 1994 – January 10, 1995 June 24, 2014 Garfield Tons of Fun: His 29th Book January 11, 1995 – August 12, 1995 March 10, 2015 Garfield Bigger and Better: His 30th Book August 13, 1995 – March 12, 1996 TBA Garfield Hams It Up: His 31st Book March 13, 1996 – October 12, 1996 TBA Garfield Thinks Big: His 32nd Book October 13, 1996 – May 13, 1997 TBA Garfield Throws His Weight Around: His 33rd Book May 14, 1997 – December 13, 1997 TBA Garfield Life to the Fullest: His 34th Book December 14, 1997 – July 14, 1998 TBA Garfield Feeds the Kitty: His 35th Book July 15, 1998 – February 13, 1999 TBA Garfield Hogs the Spotlight: His 36th Book February 14, 1999 – September 11, 1999 TBA ##Newer books are only available in a similar format, starting with book #37. In the UK, over 60 Garfield books, mainly “Pocket Books” or paperbacks, have been published by Ravette. The format is slightly different, as the strips are presented in a vertical style. In the Garfield 20th anniversary book, however, Davis said vertical stacking was the one type of comic anthology layout he wanted to avoid the most when compiling the above collections. Additionally, adaptations of Garfield television specials have been published in comic format: ##Garfield as Himself (2004) collects the following books: ##Here Comes Garfield (1982) ##Garfield on the Town (1983) ##Garfield Gets a Life (1991) ##Garfield Holiday Celebrations (2004) collects the following books: ##Garfield in Disguise (Halloween special) (1985) ##Garfield’s Thanksgiving (1988) ##A Garfield Christmas (1987) ##Garfield Travel Adventures (2005) collects the following books: ##Garfield in the Rough (1984) ##Garfield in Paradise (1986) ##Garfield Goes Hollywood (1987) Garfield Fat Cat Three Packedit Each Fat Cat volume contains the contents of three successive compilations stacked back to back. There are two types of Fat Cat books, one features black and white strips and one featuring full color strips. Volumes 1 to 12 have been released in black and white, but some have since been reissued in full color. The black and white strips were published semiannually up to Vol. 11 (compilations 31–33) in 1999. Since then, the publication schedule has slowed: Vol. 12 (compilations 34–36) was published in 2001, followed by Vol. 13 (compilations 37–39) in 2006. Black and white strips: Vol. 1 (1,2,3) was released on March 16, 1993. Vol. 2 (4,5,6) was released on August 9, 1994. Vol. 3 (7,8,9) was released on January 30, 1995. ISBN 978-0-345-39493-4 (0-345-39493-3) Vol. 4 (10,11,12) was released on August 15, 1995. ISBN 978-0-345-40238-7 (0-345-40238-3) Vol. 5 (13,14,15) was released on January 30, 1996. ISBN 978-0-345-40404-6 (0-345-40404-1) Vol. 6 (16,17,18) was released on September 3, 1996. ISBN 978-0-345-40884-6 (0-345-40884-5) Vol. 7 (19,20,21) was released on April 7, 1997. ISBN 978-0-345-41449-6 (0-345-41449-7) Vol. 8 (22,23,24) was released on January 20, 1998. ISBN 978-0-345-42601-7 (0-345-42601-0) Vol. 9 (25,26,27) was released on August 25, 1998. ISBN 978-0-345-42903-2 (0-345-42903-6) Vol. 10 (28,29,30) was released on February 2, 1999. ISBN 978-0-345-43458-6 (0-345-43458-7) Vol. 11 (31,32,33) was released on September 7, 1999. ISBN 978-0-345-43801-0 (0-345-43801-9) Vol. 12 (34,35,36) was released on April 3, 2001. ISBN 978-0-345-44581-0 (0-345-44581-3) Color strips The first eight Fat Cat volumes have been reissued in larger, colorized versions. Starting from Fat Cat Vol. 13 (2006), the larger, full-color format of the reissued volumes has also been used. Vol. 1 (1,2,3) was released on August 26, 2003. ISBN 978-0-345-46455-2 (0-345-46455-9) Vol. 2 (4,5,6) was released on August 30, 2005. ISBN 978-0-345-46465-1 (0-345-46465-6) Vol. 3 (7,8,9) was released on September 25, 2006. ISBN 978-0-345-48088-0 (0-345-48088-0) Vol. 4 (10,11,12) was released on March 24, 2009. ISBN 978-0-345-49171-8 (0-345-49171-8) Vol. 5 (13,14,15) was released on October 26, 2010. ISBN 978-0-345-49180-0 (0-345-49180-7) Vol. 6 (16,17,18) was released on March 22, 2011. ISBN 978-0-345-52420-1 (0-345-52420-9) Vol. 7 (19,20,21) was released on April 24, 2012. ISBN 978-0-345-52588-8 (0-345-52588-4) Vol. 8 (22,23,24) was released on March 4, 2014. ISBN 978-0345525994 (0-345-52599-X) Vol. 9 (25,26,27) will be released on April 28, 2015. ISBN 978-0345526076 (0-345-5-2607-4) Vol. 13 (37,38,39) was released on August 29, 2006. ISBN 978-0-345-46460-6 (0-345-46460-5) Vol. 14 (40,41,42) was released on October 27, 2009. ISBN 978-0-345-49175-6 (0-345-49175-0) Vol. 15 (43,44,45) was released on October 25, 2011. ISBN 978-0-345-52585-7 (0-345-52585-X) Vol. 16 (46,47,48) was released on February 12, 2013. ISBN 978-0-345-52592-5 (0-345-52592-5) Vol. 17 (49,50,51) was released on October 28, 2014. ISBN 978-0-345-52603-8 (0-345-52603-8) Othersedit ##Garfield: His 9 Lives (1984), graphic novel, later made into a TV special. ##Garfield: Big Fat Book of Jokes and Riddles (1985) ##The Unabridged Uncensored Unbelievable Garfield (1986) ##Garfield Book of Cat Names (1988) ##Garfield How to Party Book (1988) ##Garfield Crazy About Numbers (1988) – (sticker book) ##Give Me Coffee and No One Gets Hurt (discontinued) ##Garfield the Easter Bunny? (1989) ##Garfield and the Santa Spy (1989) ##Garfield's Judgment Day (1990) ##Garfield: The Me Book (1990) (motivational handbook) ##Garfield and the Truth About Cats (1991) ##Garfield's Insults, Put-Downs & Slams (1994) ##Garfield Discovers America (1994) ##Garfield Jolly Holiday 3-pack (1997) – Renamed to Garfield Holiday Celebrations in 2004) ##Garfield's Book of Jokes and Riddles (1997) ##The Garfield Game Book (1998) ##Garfield's Big Book of Excellent Excuses (2000) ##Garfield: The Grudesome Truesome 2 in 1 Book (2002) ##I'm in the Mood for Food: In the Kitchen with Garfield (2003) ##Garfield at 25: In Dogs Years I'd Be Dead (2003) ##How to Draw Garfield and the Gang (2004) ##Garfield's Guide to Everything (2004) ##Odie Unleashed: Garfield Lets the Dog Out Book (2005) ##The Garfield Journal (2005) ##Lights, Camera, Hairballs: Garfield at the Movies (2006) ##30 Years of Laughs & Lasagna (2008) ##Garfield Minus Garfield (2008) ##Garfield from the Trash Bin: Rescued Rejects & Outrageous Outtakes (2010) ##Garfield Left Speechless (2012) ##My Laughable Life with Garfield: The Jon Arbuckle Chronicles (2012), a collection of various comic strips throughout the years) Early-reader adventure novels featuring Garfield ##Garfield's Night Before Christmas (1988) ##Garfield's Furry Tales (1989) ##Garfield and the Haunted Diner (1990) ##Garfield Goes Camping (1991) ##Garfield's Haunted House and Other Spooky Tales (1994) ##Garfield's Stupid Cupid and Other Stories (1995) ##Garfield Goes to Disobedience School (1997) ##Garfield's Christmas Tales (1994) ##Garfield's Ghost Stories (1990) ##Garfield and the Beast in the Basement (2002) ##Garfield and the Mysterious Mummy (1997) ##Garfield and the Teacher Creature (1998) ##Garfield and the Wicked Wizard (2002) Garfield’s Pet Force, series of early-reader novels: ###1: The Outrageous Origin (1997) ###2: Pie Rat’s Revenge (1998) ###3: K-Niner: Dog of Doom (1998) ###4: Menace of the Mutanator (1999) ###5: Attack of the Lethal Lizards (1999) Garfield Extreme, a series of children’s picture books. ##Garfield’s Extreme Cuisine: Pigging the Way Out! (2003) ##Garfield’s Ironcat (2003) ##Garfield’s Awesome Ski Adventure (2002) ##Garfield’s Sumo Beach Bellyball (2002) DVD releasesedit ##Garfield As Himself (June 29, 2004) ##Garfield and Friends: Volume 1 (July 27, 2004) ##Garfield: the Movie (October 19, 2004) ##Garfield's Holiday Celebrations (October 26, 2004) ##Garfield and Friends: Volume 2 (December 7, 2004) ##Garfield's Travel Adventures (February 15, 2005) ##Garfield and Friends: Volume 3 (April 19, 2005) ##Garfield's Fantasies (May 24, 2005) ##Garfield and Friends: Volume 4 (August 23, 2005) ##Garfield Cat Tales (October 18, 2005) ##Garfield and Friends: Volume 5 (December 6, 2005) ##Garfield The Movie: The Purrrfect Collector's Edition (June 17, 2006) ##Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (October 10, 2006) ##Garfield Two-Movie Box set (October 12, 2007)needed ##Garfield and Friends: Behind the Scenes (December 4, 2007) ##Garfield and Friends: An Ode to Odie (March 20, 2008) ##Garfield and Friends: Dreams & Schemes (September 4, 2008) ##Garfield Gets Real (November 20, 2007) ##Garfield and Friends: A Cat and His Nerd (May 13, 2009) ##Garfield's Fun Fest (August 5, 2008)1 ##Garfield's Pet Force (June 16, 2009) ##The Garfield Show: Odie Oh! (October 5, 2010) ##The Garfield Show: All You Need Is Love (And Pasta) Televisionedit TV series (1988-1994, 2008-TBA) ##Garfield and Friends (animated TV series, 1988–1994) ##The Garfield Show (animated TV series, 2008-TBA) TV specials (1982–1991) ##Here Comes Garfield August 5, 1982 ##Garfield on the Town September 14, 1983 ##Garfield in the Rough October 27, 1984 ##Garfield's Halloween Adventure October 30, 1985 ##Garfield in Paradise June 9, 1986 ##Garfield Goes Hollywood July 25, 1987 ##A Garfield Christmas December 21, 1987 ##Happy Birthday, Garfield June 19, 1988 ##Garfield: His 9 Lives June 23, 1988 ##Garfield's Babes and Bullets September 5, 1989 ##Garfield's Thanksgiving November 24, 1989 ##Garfield's Feline Fantasies April 16, 1990 ##Garfield Gets a Life May 1, 1991 Video gamesedit Garfield was also transported into video games, the first being a never-released Atari 2600 prototype in 1984, and there was also an 8-bit Famicom game of Garfield made in Japan in 1989. A Garfield game was also being worked on for the Atari 5200, but the game was cancelled when Atari was taken over by Jack Tramiel. Title Details Garfield Original release date(s):2 cancelled Release years by system: 1984—Atari 2600 Notes: ##Unreleased prototype by Atari. Create With Garfield Original release date(s):3 NA 1986 EU 1986 Release years by system: 1986-Apple II, Commodore 64 Notes: ##Developed and Published by Ahead Designs. Garfield: Big Fat Hairy Deal Original release date(s): EU 1987 Release years by system: 1987-Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum Notes: ##Developed and Published by The Edge. A Week of Garfield Original release date(s): JP April 7, 1989 Release years by system: 1989-Nintendo Family Computer Notes: ##Developed by MARS corporation and published by Towa Chiki. Garfield: Winter's Tail Original release date(s): EU 1989 Release years by system: 1989-Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum Notes: ##Developed by Softek and published by The Edge. Garfield (Tiger Handheld) Original release date(s): NA 1991 Release years by system: 1991-Tiger Handheld Electronic Notes: ##Developed by Konami. Garfield Labyrinth Original release date(s): EU 1993 Release years by system: 1993-Game Boy Notes: ##Developed by Kemco and published by Kotobuki Systems. Garfield: Caught in the Act Original release date(s): NA October 31, 1995 EU December 8, 1995 INT March 1996 Release years by system: 1995-Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Sega Game Gear, IBM PC Notes: ##Developed and published by Sega. ##Developed by Novotrade International (Game Gear) ##Developed by Point of View (IBM PC) Garfield’s Mad About Cats Original release date(s): NA January 1, 2000 Release years by system: 2000-PC Notes: ##Developed by PAWS and published by Brighter Child. Garfield Original release date(s): EU November 19, 2004 NA May 17, 2005 Release years by system: 2004-PlayStation 2, PC Notes: ##Developed by Hip Interactive and published by The Code Monkeys. Garfield: The Search for Pooky Original release date(s): EU November 2004 NA November 14, 2005 Release years by system: 2004-Game Boy Advance Notes: ##Developed by InterActive Vision and published by The Game Factory. Garfield: Saving Arlene Original release date(s): JP April 27, 2006 EU 2006 Release years by system: 2005-PlayStation 2, PC Notes: ##Developed by ECO software and published by Titus Software and Hip Games. Garfield and His Nine Lives Original release date(s): PAL May 5, 2006 NA May 10, 2006 Release years by system: 2006-Game Boy Advance Notes: ##Developed by Lucky Jump Games and published by The Game Factory. Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties Original release date(s): EU August 25, 2006 NA October 17, 2006 Release years by system: 2006-Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PC Notes: ##Developed by Asobo Studio (PS2 and PC) and published by The Game Factory ##Developed by Two Tribes B.V. (DS) Garfield's Nightmare Original release date(s): EU March 9, 2007 NA June 28, 2007 Release years by system: 2007-Nintendo DS Notes: ##Developed by Shin'en Multimedia and published by The Game Factory Garfield: Lasagna World Tour Original release date(s): EU November 30, 2007 NA June 27, 2008 Release years by system: 2007-PlayStation 2, PC Notes: ##Developed by EKO Software and published by Conspiracy Entertainment Garfield's Fun Fest Original release date(s): NA August 29, 2008 EU August 29, 2008 Release years by system: 2008-Nintendo DS Notes: ##Developed by Black Lantern Studios and published by DSI Games Garfield Gets Real Original release date(s): EU October 17, 2008 NA May 12, 2009 AUS July 21, 2009 Release years by system: 2008-Wii, Nintendo DS Notes: ##Developed by Gravity-i4 and published by Zoo Digital Publishing and DSI Games The Garfield Show: Threat of the Space Lasagna Original release date(s): July 8, 2010 Release years by system: 2010-Wii, PC Notes: ##Develoepd by Eko Systems and published by Zoo Games Garfield’s Wild Ride Original release date(s): 2013 Release years by system: 2013-iOS, Android Notes: ##Developed and Published by Namco Filmsedit ##Garfield: The Movie (2004) — Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield. ##Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006) — Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield. ##Garfield Gets Real (2007) 1 2 ##Garfield's Fun Fest (2008) ##Garfield's Pet Force (2009) Figurines and toysedit Danbury Mint has made numerous products for avid Garfield lovers. All but two (Bedtime for Garfield and Bedtime for Odie) are not plush, and all but seven have Garfield with another character. ##Small Figurines (no larger than 4" × 4" × 4"): Catnap, Crowning Achievement, Easy Rider, Here's Lookin' at Me, Gourmet Picnic, Love in Bloom, King of the Jungle, Open House, Midnight Serenade, On Vacation, Return to Sender, Sittin' Pretty ##Musicals (10" wood base with figurine atop): Anchors Aweigh, La Cucaracha, Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay; Oh, What a Beautiful Morning ##Garfield's Christmas Village (11 pieces in all, including): Garfield's House, Post Office, Movies, Toy Shoppe, Candy Store, Courthouse, Church, Bakery, and more. ##Large Figurines: Garfield's Retreat, Garfield's Poolside Resort, Garfield's Golf Course, Garfield's Garden ##Other: Garfield's Carousel and Garfield's Christmas Train ##Plush (2' tall): Bedtime for Garfield and Bedtime for Odie ##Diecast Vehicles: Both Ertl and Esci have made a range of diecast toys featuring Garfield driving various vehicles Miscellaneousedit ##The album Am I Cool or What? ##Suction-cupped plush toys of Garfield, known as "Stuck on You", were a phenomenon across America and it took several years for production to meet the demand. In the Twentieth Anniversary book, it states that these car hangers came out in 1988. One such suction-cupped plush Garfield is seen in the 1996 introduction for the original format for the British motoring show Top Gear.5 Additionally, Garfield mimics the concept one night while tailing Jon on his date with Liz; this can also be seen in Garfield: The Movie under similar circumstances. ##His plush products and other toy replicas were licensed for production by the Dakin Company in the 1980s. ##Garfield was featured in a 1988 advertising campaign for Maple Leaf Village Amusement Park.6 ##Garfield’s merchandising approach has been criticized by a number of commentators including Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson, whose views against merchandising were explained at great detail in The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book. Watterson, when asked for his opinion of fellow cartoonists, including Jim Davis, once tactfully described Garfield as “consistent.” He also criticized Jim Davis’s U.S. Acres cartoon.7 Chris Suellentrop of Slate accuses Davis of creating Garfield merely for the merchandising.8 ##In 2000 Garfield was used as a mascot/recruiting tool for Cub Scouting, appearing on many items, including 4 plush Garfields in Cub Scout uniforms. ##Garfield and Odie also are featured on product packaging for the retail chain Meijer. ##Baby Garfield is featured on Sam's Club brand diapers. ##At Kennywood, an amusement park located near Pittsburgh, Garfield is one of the mascots. There are two Garfield themed rides. They are "Garfield’s Nightmare" a haunted house ride, and a free-fall ride for kids, the "Pounce Bounce". Lake Compounce, also run and owned by Kennywood, uses Garfield theming as well. ##Silverwood Theme Park, the Northwests largest theme park near Coeur d'Alene Idaho, has Garfield as the official mascot. ##There is a computer program called "Scholastic's Comic Book Maker Featuring Garfield" which allows users to make their own Garfield comics by using different characters, objects, and scenery from the strip. ##A frozen lasagne featuring Garfield on the packaging was briefly for sale in the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. ##When Microsoft released the Windows 98 edition of Microsoft Plus!, they included in it many brand new desktop themes, some of which were based on popular comics. Garfield was one of them. ##More recently, "Get the comic strip on products" with 3 pictures of comic, have been appearing on the main page. It was on the comics page Promotionsedit Garfield has also done promotions for food or shops. In 1989, he did a promotion for the fast food restaurant McDonald's. Here, McDonald's sold 4 Happy Meal toys, 4 collectible glasses, and a limited edition stuffed Garfield employee. He also did promos for the Yum! Brands properties KFC and Taco Bell. In 2000, he did a Kid's Meal promotion for Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers, where 6 toys were sold. He did many promos for his film, including 3 Goldfish figures, and 5 Wendy's toys, including a card game, magnet doll, wind up toy, play clock, and a pair of sunglasses.a successful Dairy Queen Kid's Meal promo, with many toys. His most recent promotion was at Kmart where 3 toys were sold in the dining area. Commercialsedit ##April 10, 1986 – American Express ##May 29, 1986 – McDonald's Stuck on You ##January 14, 1987 – Kellogg's ##November 19, 1987 – Alpo Cat Food ##December 12, 1987 – Kellogg's ##July 23, 1989 – PURR Cat Food (Canada) ##December 13, 1989 – General Mills Fruit Snacks ##August 13, 1990 – Garfield Fruit Snacks ##December 15, 1990 – Alpo Cat Food ##September 30, 1991 – Embassy Suites ##March 13, 1994 – Campbell's Garfield has also recently been in a commercial for Chia Pet Referencesedit 1.Jump up ^ Garfield's Fun Fest 2.Jump up ^ "Garfield - Atari 2600 - Atari". AtariAge. Retrieved 2006-08-07. 3.Jump up ^ "Create With Garfield!". Apple II archive. Archived from the original on 2006-03-02. Retrieved 2006-08-07. 4.Jump up ^ Garfield Gets Real at The Pickford Bros' Website 5.Jump up ^ "YouTube-BBC Top Gear Opening Titles 1996". Retrieved 2006-09-09.. 6.Jump up ^ Maple Leaf Village Amusement Park Commercial 7.Jump up ^ "Bill Watterson interview: Honk Magazine 1997". Retrieved 2006-08-07. 8.Jump up ^ Suellentrop, Chris (2004-06-11). "Garfield: Why we hate the Mouse but not the cartoon copycat". Slate. Retrieved 2006-08-07. Categories: Garfield media and merchandise Category:Garfield/Franchise Category:Garfield Category:Lorenzo Music Category:Bill Murray Category:Frank Welker Category:MediaMass Category:Shows That Should Be in Mediamass Category:Justin's Last Mediamass Ideas Category:John phillips